The Communication, Documentation and Information Services (CODIS) Unit was actively involved in 2002 in developing information material for display and distribution at three key events: the World Food Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the 25th anniversary of the founding of ICARDA. To commemorate the anniversary, ICARDA also commissioned and published "ICARDA25: A Promise of Hope," a history of the Center written by its second Director General, Dr Mohamed A. Nour.
     The Unit launched new pages on ICARDA's website to report the progress of activities, and promote interaction among the stakeholders of the Future Harvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture in Afghanistan. In addition, special public awareness materials were produced, and a large number of press releases were issued. A project was launched aimed at producing and broadcasting agricultural messages to farmers throughout the country, which included training of agricultural broadcast journalists in Afghanistan.
     The Unit also provided on-site communication support for projects in Ethiopia, Sudan, Tunisia, and Turkmenistan. Video and still images were taken in Ethiopia; Sudanese cooperators were assisted in setting up a computerized document collection and retrieval system; in Tunisia material was collected that was used to produce a website dedicated to the Mashreq/Maghreb project; and in Turkmenistan, information on the Center's germplasm collection and conservation efforts was collected and sent to media outlets in Australia, in cooperation with the Crawford Fund, where it generated national press and broadcast attention.
     ICARDA's website continued to be enhanced and updated. In addition to a section devoted to the Future Harvest Consortium, improvements in the section on the Center's Arabian Peninsula Regional Program were made, and a new section on participatory plant breeding was added. The section on ICARDA's work in Central Asia and the Caucasus was updated.
     Also added to the website was a section on media coverage, which contains scans of press articles on ICARDA's work. The Center gained good attention from media in 2002. Two staff members of WRENmedia, UK, visited headquarters and prepared stories that appeared on the New Agriculturist website and were distributed to radio stations in Africa and elsewhere. A comprehensive article entitled A Quiet Revolution: Vetch Helps Transform Agriculture in Syria appeared in the April 2002 issue of The World&I magazine, a publication of the Washington Times Corporation, and another article, entitled ICARDA's Research Saves Family Farms on the Prairies and Around the World: A Tale of Two Farmers, appeared in Food & Future newsletter, published in Canada.
     Capacity building remained a central component of ICARDA's work in 2002. A specialized training course on scientific writing and data presentation attracted participants from several countries. Researchers who cannot come to headquarters for training and direct interaction are nonetheless well served through CODIS' publishing and distribution programs, and the Center's 'virtual library,' which averages 150 inquiries, or hits, per month.
     A large number of publications were produced, including a special issue of Caravan to mark the Year of Mountains.